sweet gum balls

[dyllpickle00]

my dad has a tree with amillion sweet gum balls. that is what we call them. they are brownballs, alittle smaller than a golf ball. they have little spikes on them. does anyone know how to make any crafts with them. we did make a christmas wreath with some, i would welcome any ideas.

[nagymom]

My middle daughter is very crafty and had a great idea. She and I collected seed pods similar to sweet gum balls for decorating before Christmas. My husband stuck some scrap dowel rods up between some boards where we hung the pods by the still attached stems. We then spray painted them gold, silver, red or green. After they dried, we hot glued some gold thread to them for hanging as tree decorations. The final touch was added in the form of tiny bows we tied from thin ribbon, attached to cover where the thread met the ball. My oldest daughter took a basket of the finished balls to give out at work and people went nuts for them. I must admit they turned out very pretty!

[dyllpickle00]

thanks nagymom, i have made awreath ot of them .too we cut out apiece of thick cardboard,glued them to and spray painted ti gold and added some ribbons and anything esles you like to put on it. :p thanks again i will try that too.

[Amanda]

It's been many year since I have seen one of these, so I don't remember if this is possible or not....

What about making a mobile out of some of them? Or maybe use them for a windchime?

The other thing I was thinking was to make a shadowbox, paint the sweet gum balls, fashion a sick below each one, and make them look like flowers? Just sthinking out loud.

Paint them orange and add pumpkin faces for Halloween, thread onto a string like garland. Or paint white and paint ghost faces on.

How about creating a shadowbox of the sea, paint the sweet gumballs and add faces for a school of puffer fish?

hee hee!

[dyllpickle00]

wow, you came up with some good ideas. i am going to try some fo those.:D

[Amanda]

I'd love to hear of anything you make with these. Wish I had some to play with! ;-)

[misscarolt]

I save bags and bags of these sweetgum balls each year! Take a small terracotta flower pot and fill with plaster of paris almost to the top,place a dowel rod in it, when it is almost set, (the height is up to you) place a styofoam ball (size of your choice) on top of rod and with a knife cut the sweetgum balls in half and hot glue them all over the styofoam ball. Place floral moss around the top of the pot to cover plaster of paris. Spray paint the dowell rod and the ball up top gold, (add small red berries around in between the sweetgum balls for some color). I get twine or and old vine and twist it around rod to make it look like it is growing there and paint it also. You may paint the pot itself any color you want (I do mine in gold also) Add a ribbon around the pot. You have just made a topiary!!! I have a gold wire ribbon around mine for Christmas. There make great gifts and they do not cost much to make,or take up much time.

[sheilaanderson]

hi. i thought up a few ideas for the sweetgum balls.
1-glue styrofoam tree forms with balls-natural or painted. could add natural berries as ornaments etc. make a grouping of 3 dif. sizes .
2-make a garland -string on or glue on- alternate with mixed nuts in their shell,pine cones,and other natural items. could change for each holiday-add colored eggs for easter,leaves & gourds for fall,and hang garland above closet doors,or above windows with curtains,border across top of bookshelves,under mantles,border a room,hang around bottom of lampshades etc.
3-glue on large picture frames by themselves or with other natural items like mixed nuts,pine mulch bark,pine cones,river rocks etc.
4-put in large bowls around house-could spray paint gold, silver etc. to match holiday or decor-mix with potporrri or fill clear jars or vases.mix & match with whatever comes to mind.

hope these ideas help inspire you-i sure wish i had access to more natural items. i guess i should ask around. we have 3 small baby trees-kind of wish i had a lot with mature trees of varied kinds. enjoy.
sincerely-sheila anderson

[dyllpickle00]

thanks to everyone for the great ideas . i am going to try all of them. they will make some good gifts for christmas this year.

[Peggy]

my grans & I use hot glue and glue toothpicks in each hole. then we spray with white paint & sprinkle with glitter while still wet. They are great tucked in the tree, stacked in a bowl or stacked to form a Christmas tree with beads added for ornaments. The girls even sold a few.